Has the universe spoken to you today?
Welcome to the Millers’ house.
Mom & Dad
Moon
Crescent
Elio
Star
They’d listed us in order of age and always said they had four kids, not three. Our house was incomplete without Elio, the ray of sunshine we all needed in our lives.
I let go of Elio’s hand, wrapping mine around the doorknob. Feeling it turn was like stepping into a new world, or the same world from nine years ago, just better. So much fucking better. The door groaned as I pushed it open, tired from years of kids slamming it.
Just beyond the threshold was the living room. It was suspiciously quiet as I grabbed Elio’s hand again and walked us inside. I dropped our bags from my shoulder, letting them fall to the floor beside us.
“Where are they?” Elio’s hand was starting to get sweaty. I could hear the growing anxiety in his voice.
I opened my mouth to reply but never got to. Chairs scraped against the kitchen floor, and within a few seconds, my parents, Moon, and Star were coming around the corner.
Mom was already crying, a huge smile on her face, so big that her tears were catching in her smile lines. Dad looked teary too, the brown of his eyes glossy. Star’s grin was from ear to ear, and she was rocking on her feet to contain her excitement, her long curly hair bouncing with her. Moon was looking between both of us, a much more subdued look on his face. I knew he was freaking out on the inside, though. I could always tell.
“Our family is all back together in the same house, huh?” Mom’s usual sweet and comforting tone was shaky.
I couldn’t hear it as well as I wanted to because of the earbuds stuffed in my ears, but it was enough to get me choked up. A tickle began at the back of my throat, climbing over my tongue.
Elio let go of my hand, slowly walking toward them. Mom met him halfway, standing still in the living room, watching each other in silence. I watched on the sidelines, witnessing the colors around Elio ebb and flow and merge with Mom’s. Maybe their auras? Mom knew more about those than I did.
His shoulder blades shook and stretched, almost straining against the skin surrounding them. Like he had the wings of an angel, gearing up to take flight. “I missed you so fucking much.” A whisper, at most, before he enveloped my mom in a huge, tight hug.
“Oh, my baby. My baby.” Mom was hysterical, rocking their bodies side to side, gulping shaky breaths through tears.
I came up behind them, wrapping my arms around Elio, gripping him and my mom’s shoulders at the same time. Everything was muffled, but I could make out enough. More hands and bodies joined, Moon leaning in on one side of Mom, Star on the other, and Dad behind Mom.
Grief fell right in the center, pooling into one big pond.We stood in it together, nearly waist-deep. Hundreds of unanswered questions and sleepless nights. A million shed tears. Thousands of stabs to our hearts when we remembered our lack of closure. After so long, all any of us needed was a hug.
A Miller family hug.
Once the cries died down to sniffles, we slowly began to untangle ourselves. I rubbed a hand over my face and pushed my earbuds back into place. They’d shifted somehow, which made it easier to hear all the voices creeping through the hallways.
When I looked up, Mom was staring at me. Her eyebrows were pulled down in concentration, assessing me. She brought one hand up, pointing to her ears and then to mine.
Fuck.
She’d noticed. Of course she’d noticed. I tried not to admit any guilt with my facial features, keeping what I hoped was a straight face.
“Come on, you two must be hungry. I made us some lunch.” We all followed her to the kitchen, each taking a seat around the table.
Elio sat next to me, his eyes rimmed with red. Mom had made organic grilled chicken, organic broccoli, and a side of rice. Everything had to be organic. There were already six plates of food sitting out in front of six chairs, waiting for us to take our seats.
The house smelled like my childhood. On the counter by the other side of the kitchen, lavender incense was burning, mixing with the scent of Mom’s signature chicken spices. If there was anything I didn’t miss about living here, it was the egregious amounts of incense burning at all times.
Three in the living room, though they weren’t lit when we walked in, only one in the kitchen because cooking wasgood enough for the soul, two in each bedroom, one in every bathroom… the list went on. And they were never the same scent, either.
Star locked eyes with me from across the table. “You didn’t bring us any muffins. You never could cook worth a shit, but now that you can bake, you don’t even think about us?”
